Cooling a ferment closet?

[brewmcq]

I know the usual inexpensive standby to cooling a large ferment closet is to use a small air conditioner. Are there any other (cheaper) options out there that anyone else has used with success?

I primarily brew ales, so I'm looking at mid-60s temps. My cellar stays in the high 60s/low 70s in the summer time and mid 50s in the winter... warming up my closet won't be a problem, I can just pipe warm air in from upstairs.

My only problem with using an A/C unit is that I will have to vent it somewhere. While I have a straight shot to a basement window, I'd rather not run duct work through my storage area, and the A/C unit itself will take up space on the proposed top shelf of my "tote storage". Of course, if I can find a small one for cheap or free, I'll take it.

Here's my framed-in ferment closet:

Please assume that it will be properly insulated and have a vapor barrier.

The closet itself is just under 4'x5'. The horizontal runner on the right hand side is where I've already planned to rest the A/C unit... and that is also where my "tote storage" shelves will be built.

Cheers and thanks!

 

[nebulous]

sadly in every heating or cooling equation energy is moving from one place to another so no matter what, you are going to have a "hot" side of your cooling system that needs to be vented away.
the only way you might be able to get around this (sort of) is if you are in a more dry climate you could use a so called "swamp cooler" or evaporative cooler but you would have to be adding water to it regularly or have it attached to a water source.

A little while back my girlfriend got a wine cooler that uses a peilter system (thermoelectric) and i was looking at using such a system to cool a closet to fermentation temp. However after pricing it out it was going to be a lot more then just getting the cheapest window A/C unit.

 

[brewmcq]

Since I have some "down time" on the completion of the other parts of my brewery, and since I've managed to acquire a few additional window units this summer, I have a "spare" AC that I'm going to retrofit (ie. bypass all the push buttons, etc.) and rig it up with an STC or a Johnson Controller.

I was going to get all fancy and vent this and do that and whatever, but I'm honestly tired of researching this issue to death and need to just do it. Considering I need to drop the temps in my ferment chamber a few degrees, I'm not too concerned about a lot of the issues others have faced when trying to build a walk-in cooler and/or a ferment chamber that can handle lager temps.

Wish me luck.

 

[joshjv]

I made a fermentation closet, but instead of an A/C, i used a free dorm sized fridge. Granted, my chamber is much smaller than yours. I don't think the heat output is as much as an A/C unit..

The freezer plate from the fridge is mounted on one side of a panel, the compressor and the hot coils on the otherside. That panel is my door into the chamber. With a STC controller, it holds my 67 temp pretty consistently

 

[brewmcq]

I'm not worried about heat output.. like I said, at most I need to drop it *maybe* 10 degrees... and considering that my 130sq ft bedroom has been sitting at a toasty 58F all summer (crappy windows and insulation to boot) with the same size unit, I'm certain I'll have no problem getting my little closet down that far as well, if need be.

Props to all the AC "hotwire" threads (including John Beere's epic saga) and especially to Franklinbrew.org for the actual wiring diagram.

The "new" "refrigeration unit." WTF do I do now? lol

Oh my.. what's this?

A friggin' schematic! Holy WIN, Batman! (No, I don't know why it's upside down.. lol)

After the "hotwire", which worked!! She was blowing out cold air.

The jumble of wires. I added a second plug so the fan would always run, which, in theory, should help prevent the coils from icing over, and will keep the air from stagnating and stratifying in the fermenter.

Cleaned up and the cover back on. I need to come up with something to cover the gaping hole I left in it..

The Gaping Hole (TM).

It's installed. I'll figure out a way to vent the warm air out of that part of the basement later. Right now I just need it in and running.. when I get my controller, it will be.